Amid a flurry of end-of-year legislative activity, the state House passed a raft of six Republican-backed bills that could significantly change the way Pennsylvania puts together its budget. WITF, Dec. 15, 2017Full story

Phones are already forbidden in Frenchclassrooms but starting next school year, pupils will be barred from taking them out at breaks, lunch times and between lessons. Click here to read the full article.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education grades schools based on student achievement and progress for each school year. You can search by school or district to see the 2017 School Performance Profile scores. York Daily Record, Dec. 12, 2017Full story

Pennsylvania Senate panel postponed a vote Tuesday on a school choice bill that would allow some parents to use state tax money to send children to a private school. It was the second time this year Senate Bill 2 failed to get out of the Education Committee.Allentown Morning Call, Dec. 12, 2017Full story

Please click here for information regarding Act 138 of 2016 - Truancy sent in an earlier PennLink message from the PA Department of Education. The Department has received many inquiries related to that guidance, particularly around the authority and responsibility of “schools” under Act 138.

The state Senate passed a bill to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program through 2019 despite opposition from social conservatives to its inclusion of coverage for gender reassignment surgery. The measure, approved on Monday by a 43-6 vote, now goes to Gov. Tom Wolf for enactment. PennLive, Dec. 11, 2017Full story

In a report released on Tuesday, the group of bipartisan education policy experts convened by Bellwether Education Partners and Collaborative for Student Success, cited a couple of strengths in the state's plan to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) but they were outnumbered by the weaknesses that were noted. PennLive, Dec. 12, 2017Full story